94 SCIENCE

of tree; and for this reason, where a slow fire is
wanted, as in the case of gun-foundry, alder or
pine is preferred. Accordingly, when the logs
took fire, oh! how the cake began to stir beneath
that awful heat, to glow and sparkle in a blaze!
At the same time I kept stirring up the channels,
and sent men upon the roof to stop the conflagra-
tion, which had gathered force from the increased
combustion in the furnace; also I caused boards,
carpets, and other hangings to be set up against
the garden, in order to protect us from the vio-
lence of the rain.

When I had thus provided against these sev-
eral disasters, I roared out first to one man and
then to another: "Bring this thing here! Take
that thing there!" At this crisis, when the whole
gang saw the cake was on the point of melting,
they did my bidding, each fellow working with
the strength of three. I then ordered half a pig
of pewter to be brought, which weighed about
sixty pounds, and flung it into the middle of the
cake inside the furnace. By this means, and by
piling on wood and stirring now with pokers and
now with iron rods, the curdled mass rapidly
began to liquefy. Then, knowing I had brought
the dead to life again, against the firm opinion
of those ignoramuses, I felt such vigour fill my
veins, that all those pains of fever, all those
fears of death, were quite forgotten.